The rumors and stories this morning are true...NewsGator has acquired NetNewsWire. Here's the press release, and a Q&A about the deal. This is awesome news - we're all very excited about it!
The rationale here is similar to what I posted about the FeedDemon deal. Our system is designed to let users define the information they're interested in (by subscribing to feeds, or creating meta-feeds), and then distribute that information to whatever device the user happens to be using. Up to now this has included the web (NewsGator Online), email clients (Outlook edition and Email edition), mobile devices (Mobile edition), Media Center devices (Media Center edition), and the Windows desktop (FeedDemon).
The obvious gaping hole was the Mac desktop. So we looked around for the best RSS reader available for the Mac, and we didn't have to look very long - NetNewsWire was the obvious choice. Not only does it deliver a great user experience, and have a huge number of loyal users, but it also had Brent Simmons behind it. Brent's a really smart guy, has thought about RSS and the related user experience a lot, and will be joining our team as a product architect. He's already has some great ideas!
So what's coming? In the next few months, we'll release a new version of NetNewsWire that will synchronize seamlessly with the NewsGator Online platform, and by extension, all other products that use this platform. So, for example, you'll be able to use NetNewsWire at home, FeedDemon or Outlook edition at work, Mobile edition on the road, and Web edition in an internet cafe. And no matter which product you use, your feeds, read/unread states, and other relevant data will be kept in sync. Good stuff - expect no less.
There have been rumors about this floating around all morning. Most of the questions are covered in the Q&A, but let me just mention one of them here -
Will Brent stay at NewsGator, and keep working on NetNewsWire?
The answer here is absolutely yes. He'll continue working on NetNewsWire, and we actually expect development and new features to accelerate since he'll be able to focus more on design and development. He'll also be contributing in other areas and products, but believe me, we're committed to NetNewsWire and making sure it remains the best RSS experience on the Mac.
Yesterday in a press briefing, someone asked Brent "so are you going to leave in the next few months, and work on the next big thing?" Brent replied, "I think NewsGator is the next big thing."
So anyway, come visit us at Web 2.0 - Brent and I will both be there, along with Sandy Hamilton and Jennifer Smith. We'd love to chat with you!
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